He did not say it to win my sympathy.

He said it, I think, because I had just told him a true thing about what a life is worth, and he wanted to answer with a true thing of his own.

When we stood to leave, he offered me a small, lopsided smile.

“Since you’re already in the dress,” he said, “if you ever need an emergency backup boyfriend, let me know.” And I laughed — a real, surprised, helpless laugh, the first of the entire day.

I did not know, standing in that parking lot, that I had just been handed the first thread of my actual future.